for people who care about the West

Looter nabbed in Utah

The man who once bragged he could outsmart anybody
and never get caught has been indicted again for allegedly
plundering an ancient Indian ruin. BLM agents caught Earl Shumway,
37, and his accomplice, Peter Verchick, 24, digging up an Anasazi
alcove in southeastern Utah in mid-October, reports AP. A search
warrant later turned up other artifacts at Shumway's residence in
Moab, Utah. When Shumway was arrested on similar charges in 1984,
he was placed on probation and agreed to help federal prosecutors
with other looting cases. During testimony against another looter
he boasted that he had once used a bulldozer to excavate an Indian
ruin. He estimated that the number of sites he had pillaged was "in
the thousands and thousands." Federal agencies offer rewards for
information on illegal excavation of ancient Indian sites. The
hotline number is 800/722-3998.